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American Forces Press Service News Article

Remains of Four Found at Colombia Crash Site

 

 By Rudi Williams
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON -- A U.S.-Colombian search team 
 recovered remains of four Americans aboard a U.S. 
 Army reconnaissance plane that slammed into a 
 mountain July 23 while on a counterdrug mission, 
 DoD spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said.
 
 Quigley told reporters at a July 29 briefing the 
 identities of those found were not known. The 
 remains were flown to the Colombian capital of 
 Bogota, where forensic experts will try to identify 
 them. One American and two Colombians also aboard 
 the aircraft were still missing at the time of the 
 briefing.
 
 The five Americans are the first killed in an 
 aviation accident while on a counterdrug mission in 
 Colombia, according to Army spokesman Capt. Jack 
 Miller of the U. S. Southern Command in Miami. 
 
 "We continue to search for the other three we know 
 to have been on board the aircraft," Quigley said. 
 "The search and recovery party is still on the 
 ground continuing to work, but the weather is not 
 in our favor." 
 
 Wreckage was spotted Sunday about 7,500 feet up the 
 mountainside, but thick clouds and steep jungle 
 terrain hampered rescue efforts.
 
 Quigley said DoD is investigating the cause of the 
 plane crash. He ruled out hostile fire from 
 communist guerrillas in the area. 
 
 The aircraft that crashed was a RC-7 reconnaissance 
 plane, a modified De Havilland commercial aircraft. 
 Quigley said it is well-suited for the kind of 
 counterdrug surveillance missions flown in 
 Colombia. It was packed with sophisticated 
 eavesdropping and photographic equipment to gather 
 information on drug traffickers' movements and to 
 photograph illegal drug crops.
 
 Quigley said the United States assists the 
 Colombians in the counterdrug mission "because it's 
 to everyone's interest that we do whatever we can 
 to stop the production, distribution and export of 
 illegal drugs. We work closely with the Colombian 
 government and their national police to provide 
 training, intelligence support, equipment to do 
 what we can to stop the flow of drugs out of 
 Colombia."
 
 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul1999/n07301999_9907303.html